He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex in 1972.

Van Halen is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists in rock history[2] and was well known for popularizing the tapping guitar technique, allowing rapid arpeggios to be played with two hands on the fretboard.

[8] Van Halen's mother was an Indo woman from Rangkasbitung on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).

[12] After his brother Alex had occasionally filled in on drums, van Halen played bass when the band was a member short.

[15] Their parents wanted their sons to be classical pianists, but the boys gravitated towards rock music,[17] and were greatly influenced by 1960s British Invasion bands such as the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five.

[17] According to him, as a teen he often practiced while walking around at home with his guitar strapped on, or sitting in his room for hours with the door locked.

Simmons begged them not to go that route and invited them to record some demos at Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village, New York City.

Stanley later said he "rejected Van Halen to protect Kiss", and that they made an effort to make Simmons drop the band to "keep Gene in check".

It was rumored that Eddie nearly replaced guitarist Ace Frehley after his departure from Kiss in 1982, but that Simmons talked him out of leaving Van Halen.

[35] The band won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocals for the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

[43][44] Van Halen engaged in several projects outside of his band, including solo work and partnerships with his brother on film soundtracks such as The Wild Life in 1984, Twister 1996, and Sacred Sin in 2006.

[57] Eddie Van Halen's first guitar, purchased as a child from Sears and Roebuck, was a Teisco Del Rey.

[59] He later bought and briefly used a Gibson ES-335, also because of its association with Clapton, though he damaged the body while modifying it and it later became cannibalized for parts on numerous other home-build guitar projects.

After recording the album, he used a chainsaw to drastically modify the body shape, cutting a deep V into the bottom of the guitar, and painting it in a similar way to his later, more famous, Frankenstrat.

Originally pictured on his band's self-titled debut album, the maple neck cost $80, while the ash body was bought for $50 as the wood had a knot in it.

That guitar was later donated to Rita Haney, the longtime partner of Dimebag Darrell Abbott, shortly after his death; it was placed in his casket and buried along with him.

He later purchased a second mini-LP guitar, built to slightly different specs, the first being a honey-sunburst with mini-humbuckers, and the second being dark wine-red with a thicker body and full-size humbuckers.

In 1996, Van Halen teamed up with Peavey, where they developed the Peavey EVH Wolfgang; this relationship lasted until 2004, when Van Halen joined forces with Fender, initially releasing the Edward-endorsed Art Series guitars under Fender's Charvel brand and later developing the EVH brand.

[64] For Van Halen's 2012 tour, and early 2015 television appearances, he used a Wolfgang USA guitar with a black finish and ebony fretboard.

For the 2015 tour, he used a white Wolfgang USA guitar designed by Chip Ellis, featuring a custom kill switch.

[77] The first recorded keyboard work by Van Halen is "And the Cradle Will Rock...", written and performed on a Wurlitzer electric piano through a Marshall amp.

According to MusicRadar, Steve Hackett – lead guitarist with Genesis in the 1970s – is "widely credited with inventing two-handed tapping" and was an influence on Van Halen.

"[90]Until it expired in 2005, Van Halen held a patent for a flip-out support device that attaches to the rear of the electric guitar.

[99] The following year, Eddie proposed to his girlfriend, Janie Liszewski, an actress and stuntwoman who was Van Halen's publicist at the time.

[100] His brother Alex Van Halen is an ordained minister, and he officiated Eddie's 2009 wedding and that of his former sister-in-law, Valerie Bertinelli, when she remarried in 2011.

After suffering from lingering injuries from past, high-risk, acrobatic stage performances and crashes, Eddie underwent hip replacement surgery in 1999.

[107] Recovery time required due to the surgery led to postponement of Van Halen tour dates scheduled in Japan.

[114][115] In February 2017, Van Halen donated 75 guitars from his personal collection to The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a program that provides musical instruments to students in low-income schools.

[118] On October 10, 2020, Saturday Night Live paid tribute by playing a clip of him performing with G. E. Smith from a February 1987 show, which was hosted by Valerie Bertinelli.

[121] The Red Hot Chili Peppers paid tribute to Van Halen on their song "Eddie" from their 2022 album Return of the Dream Canteen.